Synonyms for kaput

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Kaput originated with a card game called piquet that has been popular in France for centuries. French players originally used the term "capot" to describe both big winners and big losers. To win all twelve tricks in a hand was called "faire capot" ("to make capot"), but to lose them all was known as "être capot" ("to be capot"). German speakers adopted "capot," but respelled it "kaputt," and used it only for losers. When English speakers borrowed the word from German, they started using "kaput" for things that were broken, useless, or destroyed.

Examples of kaput in a Sentence

once the Germans were forced to retreat from Stalingrad, the Nazi cause was kaput
hard-line Soviet-style Communism became kaput in Russia

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'kaput.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.